Patna,(BiharTimes): Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar did what was never expceted of him, or any other chief minister. He paid a visit to the ancestral house of convicted––not undertrail––prisoner, Anand Mohan. The latter is undergoing life-term in Bhagalpur Central Jail in the murder case of the then district magistrate of Gopalganj, G Krishnaiyah in December 1994.

He landed up at Panchgachia in Saharsa district on Sunday afternoon to bless the newly-wedded niece of Anand Mohan. It is widely seen as Nitish’s offer of peace to Anand Mohan. Media reports suggest that the former MP, Arun Kumar, who recently re-joined the Janata Dal (United) met Anand Mohan in Bhagalpur Jail a couple of days back.

What is strange is that Anand’s wife, also a former MP, Lovely Anand was not present when Nitish visited the house. However, he was received by Anand’s elder brother Madan Singh and other relatives.

Though Nitish termed the visit as purely personal it is being interpreted as an attempt to woo back the Rajputs of the region who are feeling alienated after the arrest of Anand Mohan and the reported attempt to enact Bataidari law last year. Though slogans like Nitish-Anand Mohan Zindabad rent the air the absence of Lovely Anand suggested that everything is not hunky-dory.

From Panchgachia, where he spent an hour, Nitish went to Bangaon, said to be the biggest Brahmin dominated village in Saharsa, to attend the marriage ceremony of one of his personal staff. He spent half an hour there. He intereacted with the family members of the employee and on their request paid a pilgrimage to Lakshminath Gosain temple in the village to seek his blessings for a second term.

Meanwhile, the RJD state president, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, strongly criticized the visit of the chief minister Nitish Kumar to the house of Anand Mohan. “Nitish might be there to seek forgiveness from Anand Mohan as he got him thrashed publicly at Patna railway station by the then SSP, Patna, Kundan Krishna,” he told mediapersons on Sunday.

With Anand Mohan moving Supreme Court it is to be seen what will be the respond of the state government in this case now.